MissMeliss: Escribition

Everyone has certain songs that âœmakeâ their Christmas. For my mother, itâ™s Nat âœKingâ Cole singing âœThe Christmas Song,â while my (ethnically Jewish) stepfather has a thing for âœJoy to the Worldâ - I think he likes the brassiness of it. This is my âœdefinitive Christmasâ playlist of the moment. Since I didnâ™t make cdâ™s for anyone this year (except our choir director, who is getting a copy of this entry), I thought Iâ™d share the list.

1) âœThe Giftâ performed by the Kingâ™s Singers. Iâ™d never heard it until a few nights ago, as I wrote in a previous blog entry, but Iâ™ve fallen in love with it. I should confess, however, that Iâ™ve loved the melody ever since we learned it in grade school, and my favorite version of the song itself is YoYo Maâ™s.

2) âœOh Little Town of Bethlehemâ performed by the Kingâ™s College Choir. One day, not long after Fuzzy and I had started singing with the choir at church, our choir director mentioned that one of the hymns we were doing was also an alternate melody for this song. So, of course, I had to FIND that version. Who better than the folks at Kingâ™s?

3) âœSilent Nightâ performed by John Denver. I grew up surrounded by jazz, 1970â™s rock, and folk music, and since we lived in Colorado for seven years, a LOT of John Denver music. I love that his settings are so simple and sing-able, and I also love the purity of his voice.

4) âœGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kingsâ performed by the Barenaked Ladies and Sara McLaughlin. At first, I thought this was the worst Christmas song ever, but then I found myself riffing on it in the shower. Taking traditional songs and resetting them in contemporary forms appeals to my inner rebel, I guess, or the part of me that really wants to be a 1940â™s cabaret singer. Anyway, yeah, this song is catchy.

5) âœSanta Babyâ performed by Eartha Kitt. Must I say more than âœMeowwwww?â

6) âœAll I Want for Christmas (Is You)â performed by Mariah Carey. Fun, flirty, and upbeat. Itâ™s fluff, but itâ™s happy fluff. And a little candy floss is a good thing now and then.

7) âœIt Mustâ™ve Been Old Santa Clausâ performed by Harry Connick, Jr. I live for jazz and swing (as much as I live for show tunes and folk), and Iâ™ve had a musical crush on Harry since EVER. This song is so kicky it never fails to make me smile.

8) âœMy Grown Up Christmas Listâ performed by Natalie Cole. I know Amy Grant originated the song, but I like Natalie Coleâ™s warmer, darker tones better. This is the ultimate Christmas song for people like me who grew up with activist parents.

9) âœWhite Christmasâ performed by Bing Crosby. A perennial favorite, and it reminds me of my grandmother. I think she had Bing on her freebie list.

10) âœIâ™ll Be Home for Christmasâ performed by Diana Krall. I donâ™t dislike Frank Sinatraâ™s version of this song, but Diana Krallâ™s is newer and suits my own sensibilities more. This song, I keep on my list in memory of my grandfather. It makes me cry.

11) âœThe Christmas Songâ performed by Nat King Cole. Iâ™m enough of a Christmas traditionalist to require this version over all others. I could listen to it forever. And probably will.

12) âœBelieveâ performed by Josh Groban. This is the end title tune from the movie of The Polar Express, which I loved because it was true to the style of the book (we all know I hate animation). I fell in love with this song over the summer.

13) âœChristmas Lullabyeâ by Jason Robert Brown. This song is from Songs for a New World, and I want to say that the singer on the cd is Jennifer Molaskey, but since I donâ™t have the ACTUAL cd, only the tracks (which I bought legally from Napster), I donâ™t have all the artist information. I would kill to sing this song somewhere other than my living room.

14) âœO Holy Nightâ performed by Charlotte Church. While Iâ™ve always loved this song, I can never find a version that really satisfies me. Charlotte Churchâ™s is as good as any, I guess, even though her voice is a little too sweet sometimes. (Then again, she was pretty young when she recorded this.)

15) âœAve Mariaâ performed by Andrea Bocelli. The Schubert version, though I like the Gounod/Bach version as well. You cannot grow up in an Italian family without this song being part of your cultural heritage. The only other Christmas song that screams âœNew Jersey Neapolitanâ more loudly is âœDominick the Donkey,â which Iâ™m not including.

16) âœYou Are the New Dayâ performed by the Kingâ™s Singers. Itâ™s their traditional closing song at most of their concerts, and while itâ™s not really a Christmas song, I like the melody and the message, and the notion of beginning and ending a list with a song by the same artist. I first heard it in a master class when I was fifteen, and Iâ™ve loved it ever since.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

Because I'm a compulsive baker, and because my fellow choristers are all dear, sweet, people, I'm making gingerbread cookies to bring to them at our pre- Midnight Mass rehearsal tonight. I'm thinking that since chocolate covered ginger is a tasty treat, tossing some chocolate chips into the cookies might be a good idea. I know it's Christmas Eve, but if you're around, please help me decide.

It may be the day before Christmas eve, but it's a balmy 71 outside my bedroom window right now, warmer than it was this morning when we left for work, or even than it was on the ride home. Yay cloud cover.

Somehow, even though the weather is NOT seasonal, I don't mind it. It's giving me a mental lift (or maybe that's the Nyquil, Benadryl, Actifed, and Zircam I've taken over the last 36 hours? NO not all at once.) that I really need as I'm trying to shake this horrible cold/sore throat thing, by tomorrow night, so I can actually sing during midnight mass (which begins at 10:30 here).

The last batch of Christmas cards went out, my major plans for the daylight hours tomorrow involve last minute shopping and having my hair cut and colored, and maybe making gingerbread cookies. We have “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to watch, and I'm in the middle of a Christmas Snapefic just for kicks. So, it will be a cozy, quiet weekend, which is just what I really need.

May your weekends all bring just what you want.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

I was going to make this post a rant about how just because I'm married people I've known all my life have suddenly started addressing mail to me as Mrs. Fuzzy'sLastName, and not just MissMeliss, and how this annoys me, because a) I've never introduced myself as Mrs. Anything. Mrs. is not a title I use. If you want to formally address me, use Ms. If you want to address something to my husband and me, “MissMeliss and Fuzzy FuzzysLastName” is my preference. I don't believe in false formality, and I DO believe that people should be called what they WISH to be called. Mind you, if you do use Mrs. as your title, then, hey, cool. But it's not me. It hasn't been me in the nearly eleven years I've been married. It will never be me.

But I'm not going to rant about that, because after eleven years, people should know, and because it's almost Christmas, and who wants to read rants at Christmas?

Instead I'm going to talk about Christmas cards. I love them. I love them for the pictures on the fronts, as well as for the words inside, which, hopefully, are added to in an inky scrawl, and not just perfunctorily signed. I love the surprise of getting a card from someone I've been meaning to contact for too long, and then finally call because the card makes me, and I love the anticipation, as December grows nearer, of receiving the first card in the mail.

My aunt sends me a small advent calender card (sans chocolate) every year - it's become a personal ritual, and one I love. My mother's cards are homemade, printed on her printer, and feature pictures of her beach - this year she forgot to leave room for an address box, so randomly wrote the TO addresses, and frankly, I'm amazed we all received the cards. My grandmother used to begin every card with “Hi Darling,” and it took me til I was fifteen to realize it was because she often didn't remember where the card would end up. “Hi Darling” was her generic family greeting. (It was also the only line many of us could read - my grandmother had abysmal handwriting.)

Today, I came home to find not just cards, but COOKIES waiting for me, and my mood went from tired and crabby to tired and hopeful, just because of a few cards.

(The practical upshot of all this: If you're one of my friends in Europe or the UK, or in Canada, or in the third batch of names on my list, your card didn't go out til today because I'm lazy and slow, and have been really sick. Um. They should get there by Epiphany. That counts, right?)

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

I seem to be short on time, short on sleep, and short tempered this week, which is sort of ironic since there's no real stress in my life, except a sore throat I can't shake.

At work, it's day five, and I'm still passwordless, though I think we're making progress. At home, Christmas cards (batch three) are still awaiting postage - sorry, folks some of you will have to wait til after Christmas, as they're going out tomorrow.

My short term memory is blink this week - I keep forgetting Christmas is THIS Sunday, not NEXT Sunday. Somehow, the pattern of days feels 'off' somehow, as if we skipped a whole week somewhere, or something. I realize it's probably just me acclimating to working again, but it's rather disconcerting.

I'm short on patience. A friend questioned why I greeted her then immediately left. While that isn't quite what happened (I asked how she was and got a two word response, I think.), I should have been more patient, but you know, the alternative would have been to idle out, rather than say goodbye, and HER short answer gave the impression she didn't wish to talk. So, for the record, I apologize for being a little TOO short, when explaining myself and then declaring that I simply wouldn't greet any more, but I am only accepting 50% of the responsibility for any further grief. (Which I'm too short on time, to have, actually.)

Next week, I only work three days. THIS week, however, cannot be short enough. I'm tired, and need a break that is NOT short.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

I was first introduced to the King's Singers when I was in high school. They were touring the US, and our performing arts magnet was on their route from San Francisco to Los Angeles, so they graciously agreed to do a brown bag lunch/master class/q&a with the vocal music students. None of us had ever heard of them, and when our choir director, Mr. H., told us they were an all-male sextet that usually sang a capella, we expected a bunch of stuffy old British guys.

Well, they were British, and they were guys, but really only one or two of them qualified as old. They sang a couple of songs for us - the Beatle's “Money Can't Buy Me Love,” arranged in the form of a traditional madrigal, and a French folk song (which might have been “Le Belle Dans La Limosine”), and then they took questions from all of us, and showed us some different breathing and vocalizing techniques, pushed the importance of warm-ups, and generally charmed a room full of teenaged girls (mostly girls, anyway). At the end, they performed their signature closing tune, “You Are the New Day,” which remains one of my favorite songs.

Most of us, me included, were quite taken with a singer named Jeremy Jackman, their alto (aka countertenor, an adult male singer who uses a falsetto voice to provide the treble voice in a male choir). He was tall and sort of gawky, and really sweet and funny, but it's his voice that has stayed lodged in my brain for all these years, more than his face.

Cut to Saturday night around 11:50. Despite knowing that I had to be in bed early, to be up early for pre-Mass choir practice, I was half-watching Forest Gump on TNT and idly scrolling through music on my Zen Micro, when I stopped at a tune called “The Gift” from a King's Singers Christmas album. I played it, and was entranced.

It's hardly a new tune - the melody is taken from the Quaker hymn “Simple Gifts” - Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free, etc. etc. - but had been re-set with Christmas lyrics, and arranged into their usual tight six-part harmony, and I was utterly enthralled, playing it through three or four times.

Fuzzy walked in at the end of the fourth play-through, and laughed at me, he said, “because you looked so focussed and cute but I didn't know what you were doing.” I threw a pillow at him. But I went to sleep with Jeremy Jackman's high notes ringing in my head.

Their Christmas album is not new (Mr. Jackman left the group in 1990), and the singers have changed a little over the years, as older members have retired and been replaced, but if you want really pure tones, really amazing harmony, and really beautiful music, they can't be beat.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

Sitting here in my home office, waiting for Fuzzy to finish getting ready for work (we carpool), I can still hear the music from last night ringing in my head. We have an alto-heavy choir, and our choirmaster, at the last rehearsal, split us into two rows, to balance the number of people in each row, and to balance the sound. I'm the shortest person in either choir, and I was put in the back. When I teased him about that decision, about how I don't know the harmony on some of the older carols, and was relying on the piano, he said, “But I put you in the back because you can hit the pitches,” meaning the three of us in the back row are supposed to sing into the front row, and guide them. That made me feel better, but what really helped is my row-mates agreeing that the alto part on one of the pieces is just really tough - I think we ALL just opted to sing melody, since the congregation was singing along. In any case, C. was able to listen to the master cd of the performance on the way home, and we should have copies of the edited version by the first of the year. Having a brass quartet joining us for the carols was AMAZING, inspiring, and just plain fun, and I had to laugh at our Bishop, who was seated behind us, humming along with all the introductions.

Today, the morning sky is thick with soft grey mist, the kind that makes lights twinkle more brightly, and makes a cozy fireside THE place to want to be. And yet, I'm still so buzzed from singing that I don't even mind getting in the car and heading off to work. (Maybe I'll have a password?) Somehow, it'll just make coming home to my decorated house that much sweeter.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com